This is a follow up to the recent post about Carol Miles: The Face of the Freewinds: A “Wog”.
Valeska sent me this write up with some further information, and it is an opportunity to republish the photo of Carol that was sent in by a reader. Also at the end I have included a comment posted by Jeff Hawkins about how Carol came to be the “Face of the Freewinds”.
Valeska wrote:
Carol was sent to the RPF in late 2008 for being suicidal and having “case on post” and for wanting to leave the Sea Org. This was orchestrated by Lurie Belotti, (RTC Rep Ship) and Sue Price, (CO CMO Ship). She came to the ANZO RPF when I was there and was refusing to sign the legal papers giving her consent to start the RPF as she wanted to leave the Sea Org. As the D/Bosun Tech RPF I was assigned to talk to her and convince her to do the RPF to no avail.
On November 19 2008 I graduated the RPF and was put in Snr HCO CLO ANZO doing auditing, ethics interviews and Sec Checking. In around Feb 2009 Carol was still refusing to sign papers to do the RPF and was insisting she wanted to leave the Sea Org. She had been on decks for months as they had to get her to sign the papers before she could actually start the RPF. Again, I was asked to talk to her and “convince” her that she needed to do the RPF. Unbeknownst to the Sea Org members in Australia it was the CO CMO Ship and RTC Rep Ship who were ordering that I had to talk to Carol. At this point, I was completely “disaffected” after being abused by Sue Price and Lurie Belotti after finishing the RPF, (I won’t go into details as that is another long story). Anyway, I was secretly sneaking off to the library and reading Marty Rathbun’s blog and wanted out myself. I just didn’t know how I was going to accomplish my escape.
I went and spoke to Carol in a small auditing room. She was in tears and told me that she wanted to leave the Sea Org and that she REALLY wanted to have kids. she was in her early 40’s at this point and told me she didn’t have much time left. She said that Sue Price had told her that she was NOT ALLOWED TO EVER LEAVE THE SEA ORG. That she was the face of the Freewinds and unfortunately it would be out PR for her to leave. So, she had no choice but to stay. She was married to the Ship’s drummer, John Politakis and told me that she loved him but wanted out so was willing to divorce him as she was so desperate to leave the Sea Org and go back to England where her parents were and find someone to love and have kids with. I did not try and “handle” her to stay as I thought it was all bullshit. I agreed with her and we both talked very badly about Sue Price which later got me in big trouble when she turned me in after she was interrogated by someone else. I was supposed to go back to the RPF in LA as I was “disaffected with management”.
In around July 2009 there was some kind of PR flap which I heard about as I was routing out and being “handled” by OSA ANZO. I know that they were running around getting PC folders packed up and sent out of the country to LA. I believe they were folders that had been requested by government authorities. There was also a leak of some sort on RPFers being on the RPF against their will. This included Carol Miles and a young guy named Mat Fay, (son of Mick Fay who was James Packer’s auditor). Carol Miles and Mat were shipped out of Australia and as far as I know sent to do the RPF in LA because they were being held against their will on the RPF in Australia and the media was getting to close to exposing this. So Carol was human trafficked to (I am pretty sure) the RPF in LA where she could be better controlled.
This was in 2009. As far as I know she is still in the Sea Org. I do not know where but it would be in a place where it is hard to escape from. Maybe back on the Freewinds. If she got out I do not know about it and I doubt that she did as there is no media footprint of her anywhere. I have sent a message to my friend who is under the radar and who was in the Sea Org longer than me to see if I can find out anything else.
Nick Cifarelli actually blew while on the RPF and started reading social media and the truth about Scientology. He was recovered and had to have an ethics interview which was to remain top secret about everything that he had read. The interview had to be done by someone who had been at Int. I was then assigned to regrettably give him TRD (The Truth Rundown) auditing to “handle” his “black PR.” All the sessions were sent to the Snr C/S ANZO as well as the RTC Rep ANZO. He ended up finishing the RPF the first time with Shimona who was a minor and RPFed at the age of 15. He then had to do it a second time which he did do. He graduated I think in around 2010 and was posted on a low post where he could NEVER hold any kind of senior position as ordered by David Miscavige. I think he may be out of the Sea Org now and in Australia.
Karl (Whitcher) and Kip (Engen) both graduated the RPF after only doing it once because the RPF was such a “PR flap” with all the media Bryan Seymour was doing with Kevin Mackey stirring up trouble etc… I know when we were on the RPF we couldn’t wear black because of the “horrible SP’s” who were exposing the RPF. Kip and Karl graduated in around 2010 as far as I know. Karl was posted on a lowly post in ANZO and Kip was sent back to LA but never to hold any executive post.
Rikki was in ANZO when I was there and she ran the RPF on decks. She had been there for years and was in charge of maintenance at Dundas (the CLO ANZO facility). She also was never allowed in a Senior position and in fact when COB was coming to Australia to open some Ideal Org Rikki had to be hidden as apparently COB was NOT to see her as she would be too “enturbulative” for him. See married Chris Beany who was the son of a well off public. Chris Beany was also sent off to ANZO to never be heard from again by COB for some Ideal Org project mess up. Chris Beany was diagnosed cancer when I was there and was VERY lucky to survive as it had spread into his lymph nodes but they caught it just in time.
Hope this helps.
The more information that is available, the better. I hope this helps too. It may not see any immediate result, but perhaps someone will read this and have further information to add.
Now, as promised, here is Jeff Hawkins comment on how Carol Miles came to be a public figure:
A bit of backstory on Carol Miles. In the 1990’s I was in Marketing and we were tasked with scripting and producing a promotional video for the Freewinds. We wrote the script and then got to the stage of casting – who would be the spokesperson for the Freewinds? The most obvious choice was the Commanding Officer. For the life of me I can’t remember his name now – a somewhat overweight, shlubby guy – ex GO as I remember. He was filmed doing the script and was truly awful. So we cast a wider net. Someone suggested Carol. At the time she was a singer at the onboard cabaret. She was filmed doing the script and was great. Good presence, very confident, and very attractive. She was approved. But we had to give her some sort of title as we couldn’t just put “Carol Miles, Freewinds Cabaret Singer.” So we brainstormed a bit and came up with “Executive Officer.” It was meaningless, she was not in charge of anything, but it sounded good. And so it went – She was put in an officer’s uniform, the video was filmed and approved, and Carol became the face of the Freewinds.
The guy on the left with the tie is my brother in law (disconnected).
I think this is the Freewinds trip where he talked to COB in the bathroom, while they were both at the urinals. COB asked him what postulate he made (There was some course or workshop where you made a postulate, or just for coming on the Freewinds, I’m not sure). He said “To have a pic with you, sir”.
COB nodded or something and left and my brother in law thought he offended him or something.
Then later COB’s assistant finds him brings him to COB and they have a Gold photographer ready take a pic of them with the ocean in the background, doing a cross handshake thing, like he was Tom Cruise.
He probably still has the pic hanging on his wall.
There are some more photos of Carol Miles in this thread:
https://www.forum.exscn.net/threads/requesting-photos-of-carol-miles.22386/page-3
What kind of fool am I
Who fell for Hubbard’s pitch
It seems I’m not the only one
That swallowed all his shit
What kind of man is this
An empty shell
A lonely cell in which
I spent those years in Hell
What kind of lips are these
That lied with every word
That whispered empty praise of Ron
That now seems so absurd
Why can’t I see the sham
Like any other man
And maybe then I’ll know
What kind of fool I am
What kind of clown am I
What do I know of life
Why can’t I cast away this tragic play
And live my life
Why can’t I blow the Org
Till I don’t give a damn
And maybe then I’ll know
A fool’s not what I am
Sctibe, one of your best!
Thanks Joe.
I have no words for the evil that was and is perpetrated on people who dedicate their lives to something they really believed in. It’s the worst sort of betrayal that someone can endure. If just one person in the US could come forward who has been moved- against their will- from another country, and held in this country, it would blow up in the cults face. As long as people remain held, the cult has a problem. They cannot afford to allow these people to escape now. There is too much public knowledge of what Defoe’s on behind closed doors. I just hope that something changes soon.
On another note- many of the social media accounts associated with the cult seem to have been abandoned by actual people- there are still several that are active, but a lot are just reposting old stories over and over again. Not sure if they are regrouping or if they have been reassigned…it’s interesting timing. This lawsuit as well as other recent developments make me think they are huddling to start a new plan of attack.
Kat
Edit button gone again!!! *goes on..
You’re right, an XO in a *real* navy is second in command and has a great deal of responsibility. In tiny-dick Miscavige’s fake navy, it’s just something they made up for a PR video.
Just saying “No, I want to leave” isn’t going to work if Scientology feels it is in their best interest for you not to leave. If there is an order that a person not be allowed to leave, anyone that would even try to free the individual will go to the RPF or worse. A Scientology prisoner has few options. Pull off an amazing escape like Don Jason did (goggle his name for his video with the Tampa Bay Times) and stand up against being further tracked down like a convict. Become a complete liability to Scientology by attempting suicide or completely convincing Scientology that one is about to do it if not released. Find another way to achieve that liability status so that Scientology feels it has no choice. Even then Scientology will do everything possible to have the person sign legal documents stating that Scientology has been nothing but helpful to the person. It pains me to think that Carol is either still a prisoner after all these years or that she took her own life. Knowing the way Sea Org members are controlled and manipulated torments my sleep on a daily basis.
I should also note that in most cases a Sea Org member will attempt to route out and even escape multiple times before they finally become so physically and mentally determined that they make it out for good. Those without that strength to push through will be worked morning til night, 7 days a week, until they are no longer physically able, at which point the Sea Org will off load them. Many have been in so long that they don’t know how they would survive if they did make it out. They don’t have money, job skills, a resume, credit, a bank account, knowledge on how to use a cell phone or computer, etc, etc. They would also need to be willing to leave what friends (includes their spouse) they do have inside the Sea Org. The longer one is in, the harder it is for someone to get out.
That’s my mother. She would lose no family if she got out—none of them are in. It’s her solution to life. I get so mad at the injustice of her being there.
A lot of them leave/blow/escape with no DRIVERS LICENSE AND NO PASSPORT. How does one even rent an apartment or get a job or buy a car with no ID??? They (the Sea Org) know this and takes away their ID on purpose.
Enter the Aftermath Foundation 🙂
Pointing a gun to their head is an effective exit strategy.
Mat, forgive what is possibly my extreme naivete, but if someone in the Sea Org says, “I want to leave”, and is then held against their will (not allowed to route out, lets say) isn’t that KIDNAPPING? I mean, LEGALLY, any person or group who holds someone AGAINST THEIR WILL is kidnapping that person. Mind you, I’m not referring here to brainwashing, i.e., the “prison of belief”. I’m asking specifically what the cult’s LEGAL standing is if someone in the SO SAYS, “I want to leave. I do not want to route out. I want to leave NOW”. If someone says that, can the cult LEGALLY refuse to let the person walk away?
The answer is no. That IS illegal. It is false I imprisonment. The issue is always a. How long it takes someone to go to law enforcement and b. The evidence law enforcement can get because as we all know if one person says x happened they will line up 20 SO members to swear on a stack of DMSMH that it never happened.
Yes, that is the problem. Same with many people saying Miscavige beat them. No matter how credible, without concrete evidence like a video, it’s inadmissible in a court of law.
Incredible. Simply incredible that this is HAPPENING, that the cult is getting away with stuff like this, in OUR country, in the United States of America, in THIS day and age. End of minirant.
Thank you, Mike. Understood on how and why kidnapping by the cult is so hard to prove. Of course, there has to be evidence of kidnapping…wow. But you answered my question: it IS illegal, no matter how difficult it may be to prove, no matter how lacking the evidence. Lack of evidence, or insufficient evidence doesn’t mean the cult is innocent of the crime, it just means they’re not guilty because there’s no, or insufficient evidence to charge them!
It is a shame that Carol choose to remain. Ruined the rest of her life.
This is so terrible. I know from someone who was in the Hole with him that my family member was subjected to ruthless and brutal verbal attacks and emotional torture. This will break almost anyone down. His doubts were beaten out of him, mentally and emotionally. He is now a fragile and brittle shell, cannot bear to talk of anything “difficult.” It is always about the weather. Carol may have been so beaten down that she may well be back at the Freewinds, a broken shell.
Reminds me how hard it’s been for so many of us to get out of scientology and get scientology out of us and now look, we are helping others with any guidance we can muster up. Hopefully someone reading can run a search on TruthFinder? 🙋♀️
After 50 years, I am still amazed at the supressiveness of the Big “S”. I was in and on staff during the beginning of the CMO’s power play and realized immediately that I needed to leave before I became a bigger victim and before DM took total control over all things scientology! So I immigrated to Canada with my wife, who agreed with my assessment, and we moved to S Ontario along with our kids and the little dog too!
After attending a seminar/discussion with David Mayo in Toronto, I was completely toast scientology wise!
Good luck with anyone who are trying to break free. It all starts with a decision….
For all of you that are still in, make the decision to leave, you will be happy you did!
As for routing out? Just say no!
Eh = Eh, Thank you for your personal story. How great that you saw the early signs and got out intact with your wife and dog even. Congrats! But one question: What do you mean when you write, “After attending a seminar/discussion with David Mayo in Toronto, I was completely toast scientology wise!” Can you expand on that?
Cindy – This is my general understanding and I don’t know how accurate it is. Mayo was a highly classed auditor and case supervisor, maybe the highest classed until Hubbard gave him the boot. Mayo started a splinter group in Santa Barbara, Ca. but Hubbard ran him out of business.
Maybe Mayo moved to Canada to get away from Hubbard and/or DM where Eh-Eh looked him up but decided he no longer had any interest in scientology.
Cindy, I’m not going to speak for Eh=Eh, but it was this way for me. When I bailed out of the cult for good in the late 80s I was still thinking that the ‘tech’ worked. The natural place to turn at that time was to David Mayo. I considered doing that for a short time, but decided to give myself a complete break from the subject instead. Getting that space and getting out into nature was enough to break the bonds that the counterfeit dream* had on me. I finally realized that the whole thing was a scam. I did this pretty much on my own with no way to verify my hunches. There was no internet for me at that time. Later I was able to see that everything I suspected was wrong with the cult was actually valid as a result of internet searches. Many people still cling to the hope that the ‘tech’ will be of benefit for them. However, Indies and Freezoners may be the only ‘squirrel groups’ out there that are probably doing even worse than the mother cult itself. I don’t know of any of these groups who are actually expanding. If the ‘tech’ worked even a fraction of what is claimed, these groups would be expanding at a mad rate. They aren’t.
*Thanks Jefferson Hawkins for such an apt phrase.
To borrow Hubbard’s lingo, I would say that joining Scientology is an overt, being in it is a withhold and enduring its draconian methods is a motivator.
So did you do the Data Series or what?
I’d say it’s a mistake. Get far away and you’ll figure it out if you want to or you dont. Get away to some National Parks with a tent and bag if you have too.
Lone Pine is North of LA a few hours and was like the Swiss Alpes.
Cece, I assume you’re not referring to me here.
Jeff,
You wrote For the life of me I can’t remember his name now – a somewhat overweight, shlubby guy – ex GO as I remember.
Does the name Milt Wolf ring a bell? Friend of mine says he’s the likely one.
Another horror story. Another story that boiled my blood while reading. Another list of kidnapped individuals. I’ve had it, when is this ever going to end? I pray that the FBI read these blogs and keep notes and are planning some strategy to bust that piece of shit that is COB (I know don’t laugh, I can still dream).
Wow – again. This should go in a packet for targets of CofS “safepointing” – particularly when scientology is trying to use the “human rights” angle and, most cynically, even posing as being against human trafficking. In a recent example, on the 10th Tony Ortega posted a PR piece that was a front group mashup of Youth for Human Rights and Bikers against Trafficking – the former is of course a CofS propaganda arm, but the latter at first glance appears to be a legitimate independent group.
It’s just mind-boggling that Scientology continues to get away with this, always cunningly operating only just far enough over the line of breaking the law that if at risk of being caught they can pull off something and skirt actual prosecution, sort of like a runner trying to steal a base in baseball. You’d think that some day they would finally run out of luck, slip up and get nailed, and yet it never happens.
The Executive Officer is responsible for the day-to-day running of the ship. The Exec position is the stepping stone to a promotion to ship captain. He/She wields power and responsibility second only to the Captain. The position is quite a bit more than the next step up from cabaret singer, no matter how good the voice.
It’s odd that Jeff Hawkins thought the title of Executive Officer would be a fluff title that would hold no special meaning. But it is even more odd that everyone else among the SO involved would also feel that EO is/was just a PR face, with no actual authority. I guess it just shows how out of touch they were with the ‘real’ world, the people who wore genuine Navy uniforms. Or perhaps better to say how they know only what Hubbard, and now Miscavige, informs them about, especially when it comes to lines of authority within the SO and all of Scientology.
They create this PR face that is so important, then fail to give the person the simple things she desires, such as time off to have children? Incredible. It’s footbullets all the way down. Women all over the world go through pregnancy; except for a few days or weeks time off, the accommodations made on the job are fairly unremarkable. But not in Scientology. They demand 24 hours of every day, seven days a week, oh, and yes all your money, too, and if you gripe about it you get sent to the prison of the RPF. Twice.
You’re right, an XO in a *real* navy is second in command and has a great deal of responsibility. In tiny-dick Miscavige’s fake navy, it’s just something they made up for a PR video.
I suspect they said AN executive Officer, not THE Executive Officer; essentially a truth that is so flexible, it can mean anything — or nothing. Her executive position? Being the “face” of that rust bucket, being enough eye-candy that the marks only noticed her, not the “stuff” around her.
Reminds me: In that picture, she looked awfully thin. Rice & Beans on-board, much?
It seems that no one escapes punishment in $ci. It is a culture of snitching, abuse and punishment.
Scientology is s very precise science of Scientology abusing people. Overtly and covertly.
This truly is a prison of the mind. I know on the ship you can’t just walk off. But to get away and then let yourself be brought back. That’s pretty strong brainwashing. But this is proof that people are being held against their will. I wish the authorities would do something!
Methinks it is a REWARD to be prohibited from further holding an executive post in Scientology!
You’re right, Joe: Executives are visible; Anyone who excels is a threat to all above them, so will be targeted. When I was the lowest of the low, hiding away in CF, people generally left me alone. Still, when I succeeded and brought the filing completely into PT, I started getting strange visits from execs, the CMO, etc. Each wanted to change my operation some way. Only dogged research and a facile ability to find the right PLs in the OEC at a moment’s notice saved me (for a while)
Apologies if I missed this somewhere else – could someone post a guide to who is who is the photograph heading this? Thanks from us Never-Ins.
I thought about adding something about how outraged I am by this latest information but there simply are no words. Thank you to all of you who are helping to bring down this horrible cult by telling the truth here and elsewhere about what it is really like to be a Scientologist.
who is who?
They were just random Scientology passengers on the Scientology Ship “Freewinds” and Carol Miles in the middle in the officers uniform.
OK – thanks!
Scientology is truly despicable.
It’s been truly despicable from the very start. Let’s not sugar coat it. Scientology has ALWAYS been a cult. And it will continue being a cult.
I’m not limiting it to the present.
Re: Hiding staff from COB so as not to “enturbulate” him…I got to play that role once when I was routing out and COB was visiting the place where I was located. Kind of wish now I had figured out how to cross his path. Would have been fun…hi Dave…Boo! Enturbulated now? Good. Of course not having to see him was fine with me. Being in his presence does not make one’s day.
I use to dream about being staff on the ship.
When I would daydream about life and what I could do, I used to wish for being able to control six bodies. I wanted to hold so many different posts, and do so many different things.
At the top of my dream post list was a position on the ship in the delivery area. I used to think that there could be nothing “more theta” than helping people at the exact moment of them reaching the pinnacle of ability and freedom.
….
I do so hope that Carol is out or will get out someday.
…….
I put up with all kinds of abuse and difficulty from others while on staff and in scn… all because I knew with such certainty that Scn was always right, and we’re doing the best we can with “broken straws”. People were fallible, scientology was not.
…..
I’m so glad I’m out.
Today I’m going to volunteer to help some people with some things. …
helping people in non-scientology ways … has this extra benefit … it seems like, .. when I’m helping in this way… it somehow .. soothes, or gives me a bit of peace… like it’s making up for all the wasted help. It’s like a present to myself.
Being able to say what happened
Being able to read what happened to others…
is therapy.
It’s so good for me. It’s such a relief.
Every bit help.
Thanks, again, Mike.
(The Truth Rundown) auditing to “handle” his “black PR.”
For the record, Hubbard’s Orwellian gaslighting “Truth Rundown”, some of the most vicious of Scientology’s mind-fuck:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjbt9gVFIX8
This is another good discussion of TRD: https://www.patreon.com/posts/truth-rundown-3713099
Getting onto OT VII they did this to me.
I had told the MAA that I freely read whatever I wanted to on the internet, there was no teck or policy that forbade it and I was free to do so and come to my own conclusions. I wanted to know what “the enemies” were saying, and who they were. Such knowledge had been part of my post in prior staff positions and I felt it was the sane and proper thing to do.
I then got about 75 hours of Truth Rundown sec checking.
It was a long torturous ordeal and it still makes me twitchy when I talk about it.
It contributed to the trauma that led to my sudden awakening.
RVW sez: “It contributed to the trauma that led to my sudden awakening.”
It sounds to me like the ‘Truth Rundown’ was truly effective. Just one of the many ‘processes’ in scientology that are workable. Some of these ‘processes’ are more painful than others, but the fact is, once the mindfuck this cult sells (for a very pretty penny) piles up enough cognitive dissonance, one finally realizes** that they are just a mark in a world class con game. True freedom awaits just beyond the exit.
**sorry to reveal this ‘clear cognition’ to you fence sitters, side-liners, under the radar, doubter, not quite out the door types bravely reading this blog, but there it is in all it’s glory. The OSA twits reading this are completely immune to the truth because they have their heads up their arses and can’t see shit if they are standing in it.
Waiting for Foolproof to chime in. 😴
Pleeeease, don’t ‘call’ him/her. He/she is probably just waiting for it to then unload his/her “Misunderstood Words”-mantra, multiple gross insults, justifications for Hubbard and to dramatize his superiority complex.
Fool probably won’t be here today. He never seems to be in ‘present time’, only shows up a day late (and usually a dollar short) to get his stats up for another glorious Thursday at 2:00. This is the sure sign of a troll, they can’t participate in the current discussion, only show up later to attempt to derail others. Don’t waste your time or hold your breath waiting for the Fool to make some asinine comment about the eternal salvation a dictionary can provide.
Believe me, I’m not holding my breath – the guy is just so damn funny!
Isn’t he, though? Not funny like ‘haha’, but funny in a really sad way.
Despite his endless shit talking and willful blindness, I truly hope he wakes the hell up some day.
Hey Rip … Yeah, kinda puts a different spin on “total freedom”, doesn’t it?
*and yet, these are people who constantly do “word clearing” …
promise: total freedom
actuality: total enslavement
Hubbard: I knowingly lie to you to hijack and harness your life to work only for my ego and forward my lies to the world.
everything else is just fucking window dressing
The Truth Rundown – there could be nothing further from the truth.
I can’t get over the realism in Valeska’s comments. It seems that some members are deeply involved with Hubbard and that they influence those with less affection for the man. This was so obvious to me when I was in and especially noticed at musters where the most dedicated just refused to stop clapping and yelling. The SO seems like a mud pit where those who are into Scientology more deeply pull the others down with BS. Some of the comments are mind blowing – like you can’t leave the SO because it is out PR!
Interesting to note how Valeska somehow got to read Marty Rathbun’s blog. Miscavige must have been blowing fuses after that. Recent posts to this blog have indicated how the staff is less and less American and that many staff members do not even speak English. My buddy noticed this in Tampa when he went to talk about his son who is in Scientology. The Ethics Officer could hardly speak English he said. They almost declared him suppressive and his son was prepared to disconnect. But it never happened because I told him to stop the “swearing”. It is ironic that once he stopped the pressure decreased. Ironic because they swear in Scientology.
I think of the die-hard SO members pretty much in the same light as I view the followers of Charles Manson and that group – their name escapes me – that back in the day kidnapped Patty Hearst. There’s no abuse they can’t tolerate, no injustice they won’t justify, in their devotion to “the cause”. Different causes, same fanaticism and insanity.
Thank God for those SO with the awareness, the perception, the what-ever-the hell-it-is that makes them realize they have to leave. Thank God.
I keep thinking of Carol Miles, that lovely young woman – suicidal, not allowed to leave the Sea Org, and now, vanished.
“Where IS Carol Miles, The Face Of The Freewinds?”
I’d like to DO something to find her. Contribute in some way. I don’t know how, though. A movement of some sort? Billboards? Buttons, internet memes? If anyone has an ideas, please feel free to share them here. I’d like to help find her and focus the media spotlight on her!
And, yes, sorry; THANK YOU, Valeska and Jeff!
Yes, her story is very moving. I think that if there is another Aftermath that would be the way to do it. In fact, it would make a great story on TV.
Yes!
You suggested creating billboard(s)?
You posted one excellent suggestion for a billboard.
“Where is Carol Miles? (the face of the Freewinds)”
Symbionese Liberation Army.
That’s it! And NOW I know why I blanked out that group’s name in my memory. I always had a yuge MU on it. Who were they, anyway – these Symbionese who needed to be liberated ? I’m off to Google 🙂 Rest assured this term will be fully cleared and used in sentences 🙂
In his manifesto “Symbionese Liberation Army Declaration of Revolutionary War & the Symbionese Program”, Donald DeFreeze wrote, “The name ‘symbionese’ is taken from the word symbiosis and we define its meaning as a body of dissimilar bodies and organisms living in deep and loving harmony and partnership in the best interest of all within the body.” The political symbiosis DeFreeze describes means the unity of all left-wing struggles, feminist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, and others. DeFreeze wanted all races, genders, and ages to fight together in a left-wing united front, and to live together peacefully.
Thanks, Scribe! Well, I’m down with all of us all living together peacefully – but ALL of us, though, not just the left-wingers. I think I’ll skip reading DeFreeze until maybe one day he defreezes a bit more 🙂
Aqua – funny you should bring up the Manson group. The other night I watched a show on the Manson women. Two of them are not in prison and were interviewed. At the end of show one of them (forget her name) was STILL defending her group (after all these years) and the women in prison who BUTCHERED those people. And all of a sudden I couldn’t help but think that this is exactly what these SO members would do. Defend that piece of shit COB ’til the end. Even if he committed murder, mass suicide, etc. It never occurred to me until now.
When I first started to read these blogs, over on Ortega people would comment that they believed Scio’s. and especially SO members would go along with a Jonestown suicide scenario. I always poo poo’d this kind of idea but now, I wonder, I really wonder?????
PS – Aqua – you are the one person here that totally agrees with me on having ZERO tolerance for those still in with their heads in the sand.
Interesting, Ms. P. Yes, I do believe the Die Hard Still Ins would and will justify ANYTHING, any crime. They’re just…gone, mentally. Who knows what their abuse-threshold is before they go, “WHOA!”
Cynically I believe it won’t be real for them unless and/or until something HAPPENS to them, personally. Abuse, personally sustained, whether physical or mental. Who knows what thing, what little thing, or what big thing will have the power to wake them up? It could be anything that zings in, at the right time.
Look, MIKE RINDER left!!!!!!!!
Who would have thought? Who would have DREAMED that Mike Rinder would one day blow?
And lastly, yes, we are in accord as regards those who WILLFULLY keep themselves blind, who pretend to not know what they DO know, who lie to others AND worse, themselves. The mini-criminals, the enablers. They’re operating in very dangerous and destructive ways. They’re not ignorant, they’re not innocent. At some point they’ll no longer be able to twist and turn away from what they’ve long known is the truth. Their pain will be enormous.
It might be noted that only a percentage of scientologists are working for the organization as sea org, org or mission workers or volunteers. These people would be the most dedicated or fanatical as the case might be.
Accurate numbers are unavailable but I’ll guess there are currently 10,000 or less true believers worldwide with maybe 1,000 or more who are Under The Radar or just pretending. Some percentage would be employed by scientology and the higher up the chain of command or management level the more fanatical they might be with only a very small percentage who would be radicalized enough to commit heinous acts or mass suicide at the very extreme.
Current scientologists seem to be more in lock step with COB than scientologists were with Hubbard when he was alive, but that’s just my impression since current scientologists are willing to give outright monetary donations for supposed good works, status and building projects.
Lock stepping from the Apple 1984 Super Bowl Commercial Introducing the Macintosh Computer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axSnW-ygU5g
It is VERY safe to say that in the USA there are currently MORE staff than there are ACTIVE scamologists.
Richard, staff numbers could be extremely high if you figure that each org seems to be supposed to have at least around 25 staff, which over about 140 orgs worldwide means about 3,500. Then current estimates are 3,000 to 3,500 Sea Org, meaning a total workforce possibly as high as 7,000, or more than half the membership!
This is one area I can’t get a good handle on, just how many of what seems to be an average of about 25 staff positions per org, are actually full time, and just how that relates to truly active local membership that seems to be running around perhaps 50 people average as reflected in the photos we see, and reports that orgs have a total of maybe 100 people or a few more on the rolls who show up at least occasionally. It sounds like in some cases perhaps as few as 3 or 4 staff are really full-time, and maybe 12-18 people total hold multiple positions.
That’s certainly a change from the old days, and one of the reasons Scientology is so expensive; it’s become so cumbersome that the ratio of members to workers is ridiculous, whether its 1:1, 1:2 or even just 1:6 (in most churches, for support staff exclusive of ministers it’s about 1:100). While those working full-time barely get paid, that still adds up and then there are still all sorts of costs for having workers, especially the Sea Org who get room and board and medical care.
PeaceMaker – Is 140 orgs worldwide a factual number or an estimate? Any numbers or statistics published by the CofS are worthless. Miscavige himself might not know the actual number of active members since subordinates might be feeding him fudged numbers to keep him happy. He would probably know most of the financial numbers but even much of that he may put in the hands of accounts and be given summaries.
Richard, there are definitely around 140 local orgs with verifiable locations in larger cities around the world (with about 45 in the US), plus the various higher-level orgs on top of that. Missions are another story; most have disappeared, and of the small number Scientology still lists, many are only hanging on by a thread, or even closed and not yet written off (St. Petersburg shut down this summer).
Any way you look at it, the ratio of active members to staff and full-time workers is extreme nowadays. And in the case of the “ideal” facilities, there is more largely empty square footage per active member, than many of the members actually have to live in! (if you figure 50 active members and a 50,000 square foot building, 1,000 square feet is larger than the average apartment)
It’s an interesting question as to whether Miscavige is actually aware how bad it is – you’re right, it’s typical that totalitarian leaders end up being fed information with a positive spin by fearful underlings. There are reports that Scientology at least used to know how many members were really active taking courses and attending events – but that’s probably now affected by the number who are UTR and just going through the motions, and who will leave if they get a chance.
PeaceMaker. By OBSERVATION in the USA the average Non- Sea Org seems to have about 5-6 FT staff. That is an average. Some may have 1 or 2 some 7-8. There are probaly NONE that have STABLY 25 staff that are not run directly by the SO. Even Vally org only has a handful of staff even tough run by SO members from CLO WUS that actually sit in that org.
Wynski, I know that some org boards have about two dozen names on them. And in Quebec, Scientology claimed to have 70 staff, and was recently forced to give back pay to 62 people.
It seems that there are more people than might be obvious who at least have some sort of paid status, even if they’re only part timers – and then perhaps volunteers on top of that. And the Quebec settlement wouldn’t have included FSMs, though Scientology’s claims of staffing levels might.
I’ve seen some evidence for full time staffing in the range that half a dozen or so, at least at some of the small and failing orgs in the midst of “ideal” campaigns, but no clear explanation of how the part time and volunteer staffing works then. The insider info we got about St. Louis, for instance, lists 23 people “still on staff”:
https://www.mikerindersblog.org/st-louis-follow-up/
Peacemaker. I’m talking about what shows up on video surveillance or by Mark I eyeballs. Go to those orgs (other than the SO manned ones) and DOCUMENT (not repeating CoS crap) those staff.
Also, you CANNOT count them when DM is ready to yank the ribbon OBVIOUSLY, smh. Go there 6 months later to get a TRUE picture.
Waiting for you to bring back evidence of REAL staff bodies (part time counts as 1/2) working. It is easy. Just watch them arrive for work and leave. Takes one day
Wynski, full time staff may indeed be that low – it more or less fits with the direct observations I’ve made, though most of the year I now live far from any org so I can’t readily make extended observations. One org in a good sized city had clear signs that a total of 24 to 30 people were on staff or were volunteers working there, whether full time or just a few hours regularly – that in a fair sized metro area where an insider had said there where 50 to 60 active members and about as many more who would come in for a few special events.
Can you or someone explain what’s up with all the positions that must be filled part-time, then? We have the evidence from the Quebec labor case, for instance, that over some period a fairly large number of people were hourly workers at some level. I even asked the person who posted the St. Louis staff list about a breakdown, but I don’t think I ever got a response.
p.s. Mike, if you ever have a chance to piggyback on some relevant piece, or even an insider account, I’d love to see a call for info on what’s actually going on inside local orgs, such as we got a fair bit of a while back with St. Louis. And thanks for all you do.
Thanks for the info, Valeska.
I can’t imagine that Carol will have been brought back to the ship. It would be out-PR if anybody would see her there because of her former prominent PR-position there. Also, if she made that much trouble that would be a “threat” (Security has a “threat list” of persons who could blow or make trouble).
Could it be that she was at the Int Base (for a while)? I remember having seen a photo on one of the critic’s sites, shot outside of the fence showing a crowd inside near the fence doing some groundwork, mentioning that one of the persons could be Carol Miles (the photo was not very clear).
Some ex-Sea Org who left in the last years must have seen her, no? Or did she get disappeared, too? Anyway, it was/is certainly another case of illegal imprisonment!
What about her family in England, are they also Scientologists? Do they even know anything about what happened to her? And is John Politakis still on the ship?
“Black Velvet”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHHEmd5mECY
Still can hear Carol singing “Black Velvet” in my memories when she was a happy singer in the Fwds band – and she was good.
Scientology is an abyss.
They will destroy themselves.
BTW, have you noticed that ALL staff members are complete and utter idiots?
And with popcorn it’ll be more fun!
Save me a seat and buy me some Milk Duds!
Mike,
This information is realistic, effective and some of the best I have read on any blog about Scientology. It really describes the pressure that the SO members go through. There seems to be a downward “progression” that Scientologists hit as they get deeper into Hubbard’s ideas. When I was in, I really only saw the tip of the psychological slavery in Scientology. For some reason, I never really bought into the totality of Hubbard’s ideas so I never joined the Sea Org. This fear of the COB Miscavige depicted in the post really brings home the insanity of Scientology. Keep up the good work. I feel moved by Carol’s story and cannot believe that Scientology is allowed to continue.
Just…fuckin’ gobsmacked by the utter ruthlessness and evil that informs the everyday operation of this slaver corporation!
It’s all policy-driven, per the “scriptures ” authored by Sauce.
What a disgusting cauldron of fuckery and abuse.
Such a ” beautiful religion “, yes, Jorm Revolta? The ” coolest “, ain’t
that right, Chairman of The Whored?
I hope, against the stacked odds, that Carol escapes, if she hasn’t already.
Oh, and Captain Homunculus? Bubba is ironing a freshly laundered orange dress for you…AND, in an unprecedented occurence of solidarity amongst prison gangs,
the black, caucasian, asian, and latino gangs have come together to formulate
a nationwide( doesn’t matter which prison you end up in ) ” tiny tyrant handling ” known as the Miscavige Ass Tapping Agreement(MATA-we know that you are fond of acronyms ). THEY know where TARGET 3 is.
Tick tock, Davy.
Mark – I always love, love your comments so eloquently written. You crack me up each time.
God Damn but I like the way you write.
“The people committing any and all abuses have been summarily dismissed for ecclesiastical ineptitude and dereliction of Dave.” Karin Powwow